City Council - Regular Meeting

I have a favorite Oh, it's hard to keep going, right? I'm not comfortable with that.

It is now five forty five and I will call our August 18, 2026 work session meeting to order. And at this time, we have our someone from the engineering department to enlighten us on two of our resolutions.

Sir, Mr.. President, thank you so much, council, mayor. Glad to be here tonight. I was explaining to Mayor Smith earlier a minute ago about these two contracts. These are annual renewed contracts. They renew every year if they're budgeted funds. The citywide resurfacing contracts are asphalt contract. It renews in February. And then so if that money is expended by August, then it will just sit until February until it gets renewed again. The ADAs, sidewalk improvement contract expires at the end of August. So those funds are expended from all the years of work. And so we're renewing the ADA contract for next, for September for the next year. But since the resurfacing contract doesn't renew till February, We had some budgeted funds for some other roadway improvements that we didn't utilize this year. So we're extending that contract with a few more roads and some more funding for that. So that's why the resurfacing contract is changed to extend to add more funding, but it's not renewing because it doesn't renew until February. But the ADA project expires at the end of this month and will renew with a new contract next month. So be happy to answer any questions about these two projects or any other projects we have in the city that you may have questions about while I'm here. Yes, I don't have that list with me, but the list of additional roads are in your packet. These are some roads that we've identified. in addition to the ones we looked at before. We consider, we analyze roads due to the traffic that's on them, due to the roughness, the condition of the road and things like that. And so, and then usually the location. We'll like to combine them in a certain area. That's kind of what we did up in Fourth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, a couple of those up in the north part of town. Well, these are Maple and Darden, Darden and Brandon, Fruitwood. They're all in the same area. And then the last two, Center Hill Drive and Enterprise Drive, those are two roads coming from Frederick Road from the, I call it the Kroger traffic signal right there at Frederick Road. And those two roads will go up and they'll connect to the new Thomason Drive, which we're about to complete the next month or so. So having those roads resurface the Center Hill and Enterprise will help that connectivity with the new Thomason Drive as it goes up. So yeah, these are kind of some projects we identified earlier on and we found that we had a good opportunity using some budgeted money from other resources to put with this contract to go ahead and complete this out.

And the one that's on, are you all resurfacing, I'm sorry, getting them up and then going back and paving all the tops? Because I noticed that over in that area and I'm continuing to get questions about that time frame.

That process is called the edge mill. So we'll edge next to the gutter and then we'll come back later with this extension and put the asphalt on top. That way it'll tie in smooth to the gutter and it won't overtop the curb and gutter. So yeah, that's our process that we did. Initially, we came in and edge milled all the roads, then come back and pave them as they'll get to them. So, yeah, that's correct, ma'am.

Do you have a time frame of when you?

That's usually up to the, when we get our pavement contractor, like we had them this summer, they dedicated two months to us, and we were able to knock it out. Well, now that we had to pause this contract for refunding, I don't know exactly when we'll get them back. They may come in in a week or two and finish them up, or then it may be later on this fall. So we don't have a time frame right now. But we'll certainly let Ms. Craley know, and we'll post something when we do find out they're coming back.

All right, thank you.

Mayor, do you have an update for us?

You all have received a copy of the monthly permits for July. You'll see that we had $21.8 million worth of permits in July issued.

You also have received a copy of the income statement balance sheet for the month of July. If you have any questions, you can call myself or Cindy Boyd or Joey. Speaking of Cindy, she has put at each one of your desks a copy of the proposed budget. If you have questions, again, call Cindy or myself or Joey and then we'll get you to Cindy, but I'm kidding. And we would like to have that on the agenda for the September 1st meeting. So if you take the time to look at that and again, if you have questions to let us know, please.

Thank you so very much. Now, the council members, do you have any concerns about any item on our agenda that some of the departments here may be able to enlighten you on? Mr. Jones, is there anything else that come for us in this work session?

Yeah, so I apologize. Ordinance number two should look familiar as I asked you all to suspend the rules. We were in our haste between multiple departments trying to get all the times down. One of the times was wrong. The drop off time for Fox Run School was incorrect. It should have been 2 55 PM to 4 PM. Um, we need to make that change as soon as possible. And also, I remember driving up and down Waverly Parkway that Auburn Christian or Auburn Classical Academy changed their name. So same section, same ordinance. I figured we'd go ahead and change your name to logos. Classical Christian Academy. So this knocks out two things that need to be changed in that same section. Again, I apologize for the

for the missing on the on the fox run school and i've asked for you also to suspend the rules again on that if you don't mind you know any questions for mr jones yes sir if not no nothing else is before us we were in this work session and began our regular meeting at six o'clock p.m

if there's ever anything pertaining to my new section, at least for us.

Same with us. I mean, after we do stuff.

We have some, yeah, we have some people. I know this guy. So we did that. I still fall for it, yes. Okay. He sounds like that.

I actually, I rarely do. I'm very young and I'll actually put the word in bold.

And then they needed a spot, so I ended up going on board. They're like, you can go. That's impressive.

It was a lot of trouble.

We talked to her about it. Did she ever come on? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

May I have your attention, please?

May I have your attention?

It's now six o'clock p.m. And I will call up our August 18, 2026 Opelika City Council meeting to order. Call the roll, Mr. Jones.

So here's what we hear.

Here, here, here, here. And tonight, for our invocation, we are pleased to have Reverend Gerald Pryor from the Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church to do our invocation and our pledge will be done by our own Russell Jones.

Kids will be back next time. They're back in school.

Let us all stand.

Let's pray. Grace is eternal God. Awesome and majestic in all your ways. We thank you tonight. Thank you for this great city of Opelika. our mayor, our city council, and all the people that make Opelika the great city it is. We thank you for this time of gathering, of fellowship, to continue to carry out this great work that advances the cause of your city, the civic engagement, and the duties that see fit to bring about a great Opelika. We pray that everything that we do here and beyond continues to touch not just our city, but our county, our state, and our nation. Continue to allow our city to be an exemplary light for all those that come. We love you, we honor you, and we praise you. It's these things we ask together in your name. And we all say together, amen. Amen.

Face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

At this time, we have the adoption of the agenda. Are there any items that need to be added to remove from our presented agenda? Having none, is that is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented?

So moved.

And I got it. Is there any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Ms. Holmes. Aye. Ms. Watley. Aye. Mr. Fink. Aye. Mr. Raut.

Aye. Mr. Allen. Aye. All voted aye to adopt the agenda. Approve of the minutes. Council members, you've received a copy of the minutes from our last regular meeting on August 4, 2026. Are there any correction, additions, or deletions? If not, I will entertain a motion and a second to accept the minutes as presented. So moved.

Second.

We have comments, Mr. Mayor.

Yes. Thank you. Okay. As I said earlier in the pre-meeting.

Mayor Smith, microphone.

I got to turn that thing back on again. You have received a copy of the city's financial report. If you have a question, call me or Cindy Boyd or Joey. Also, You have a copy of the monthly report for the building. It's very good report and we're proud to say that $21 million worth of permits were issued. We also are going to come down and introduce the 20 under 40 class as well as recognize the character council.

So each month, as you all know, we recognize a character trait. And the character trait for this month is commitment. And Mrs. Whatley has made a denomination. And I will turn it over to her before you start. Yes.

Are there any members of the character council this week?

Mark Grantham so I'm honored to award Mark Grantham with the commitment character trait of the month all right of course like we said the character of the the character trait of the month is commitment and I am honored with this award. I'd like to introduce you to Mark Grantham. He's not just a committed public servant, but as a neighbor for over 25 years, he's become a dear friend to my family and me. Mark Grantham has spent more than 30 years pouring himself into the community as a business leader, a church member, a volunteer who just never stopped showing up. He spent over 25 years in retail management before he found his true calling, building homes and building hope For the past 16 years, 18 years, Mark has served as the Executive Director of Auburn Opelika Habitat for Humanity. And under his leadership, that organization hasn't just grown, it's transformed lives. Just recently we celebrated groundbreaking on homes 80, 81, and 82, built in partnership with the City of Opelika, Stone Martin Builders, trade professionals, and the East Alabama Health. Mark will tell you himself, his passions are serving God, helping others, and hunting ducks. He and his wife Susie are proud Opelika residents and active members of Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church, and together they have raised family of six children and four grandchildren but here's what i know as his neighbor not just as a city council member he's humble he's quick to point to his team instead of himself anyone who knows mark or works with him knows his work ethic

and he shows it in everything he does.

Never does he take the credit, always putting the accolades on others, and he genuinely believes every home Habitat builds is a partnership, which is exactly why he never misses a chance to thank the city of Opelika for standing along the side of him. Mark, thank you for your commitment, your leadership, your friendship, and your heart for the community. It's my honor to humble guy that he is. He did not want this award. I had to talk him into it. And the one thing he said is, I can't do this job without the help of everybody listed and nearly thousands more people. And I returned, this is not me choosing him, that I'm honored had faith in me to become a city council member and that I'm able to choose people to argue so I just feel the same way I couldn't do this job without people having faith in me and it's the same with you and so I just couldn't pick a better everyone that saw your name was like wow what a great choice I think if you don't know Mark you need to get to know him but we're just so thankful to have you and it's beyond a blessing for your commitment to our city and to Auburn too so thank you you are awesome partners in all that we do thank

Mark, you know she's absolutely correct about what she says. So let me just add this right here. It's a great pleasure that we acknowledge you for your outstanding character within the city of Opelika. Your goodwill towards mankind and our city has not gone unnoticed. We hope that others will see your good works and model your actions. Please be encouraged to continue making a difference in the city of Opelika.

You can see me, I can see you. Okay, I think we're good. Ready? One, two, three. And if you will look my direction, please. Thank you.

Yes. So we have the pleasure of having this year's 2026, 2027, 20 under 40 class. You can see they're all here in the front, the front row right here. But this is actually to kick off their very first session. We wanted them to come to a city council session because we think it's important that they see this and they be involved with their community and stay up to date on what is happening. So we're very honored to welcome them all. If you would like to go ahead and welcome our people.

If I don't butcher your name, come up here and join us, please. Nora Audrey, Aubrey University. Latin Christian, City of Opelika. Denarius Creighton, Creighton Investment Group. Natasha Davis, PNC Bank.

Kristen Fillichum, East Alabama Health.

Jesse Heath, Auburn University Advancement. Caroline Height, Storybrook Farms. Allison Kirkland, Lauren Bland State Farm. Travis Kimbrell, SSA Design Collective. Mary Lott, AO Tourism.

Dimitra Isby, Southern Union State Community College.

Patrick Rickabaugh, Sinsa Green Heating and Air. Did I get that one right? You did.

Good job.

I knew that. Drew Riddle, CNG, Hong Kong. Gabriela Santiesteban.

That's what I said.

She's been open like a place to burn. Now y'all get to know her, right? Hailey Stevens, GE Aerospace. Terry Thomas Eugly, East Alabama Health. Alexandria Torbert, Auburn University student. And Dominique

okay if y'all can come over here in this section i think it's gonna be easier to get a photo congratulations all of you i'm so happy for you y'all can kind of face me this way SAPPY, CAN I HAVE YOU COME TO EDGE?

THANKS. LET'S SEE. CAN I HAVE YOU COME TO THE END?

WOULD YOU MIND? OKAY.

Actually, Gabby, if you come right here. Yeah, there we go. And then, Alexis, you . OK. But I am going to need you to squat, Gab. Perfect. George is getting just a smidge more.

Thank you.

If you can't see me, I can't see you, but I think I've got all your faces. Okay.

Okay, same over here. Okay. You go. No, you go.

You sure? All right. All right. One, two, and back.

All right. Same here. Make sure you can see me. Ready? One, two, three. All right.

All right, everybody give me a big wave. Yay!

Public hearing, Mr. Jones.

Mr. President, there's one public hearing tonight. This public hearing is a due process hearing. The three minute time limit does not apply. A representative of Together We Thrive shall have an opportunity to present testimony and evidence and to cross examine witnesses on its behalf. After, I believe you're going to invite the city to present its case.

OK. Today's hearing is an important step in the city's consideration of whether to revoke the business license of the business located at 3040 Caps Way. The purpose of this proceeding is not to prejudge the matter or to announce a decision before the evidence has been considered. Rather, it is to ensure that the business owner is afforded a fair and meaningful opportunity to be heard before the city take any action affecting said business license. The City Council was considered the evidence and testimony presented during the hearing, along with the applicable provision of the city code and other governing law. The business owner will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations or grounds identified by the city. Present relevant evidence and address the council regarding proposed revocation. The council objective. is to ensure that the matters considered fairly, transparently, and consistently with the due process rights of all parties. And with that, I declare this due process hearing in this manner open. I will ask the city representative to come to the podium to my left and present his case. And the business owner will have the same right.

Good evening. My name is John Hester. I'm a major at the Opelika Police Department over the patrol division. Um, I'm here tonight for the proposed revocation of the business license of together. We thrive LLC doing business as Wild Wing Cafe. In March of this year, Wild Wing Cafe received a license to do business in Opelika as a restaurant, selling liquor and beer. Since that time, over the course of four to four and a half months, OPD has responded Uh, 35 calls to service to that business. Uh, within those 35 calls, we have responded to a shooting at the business where there was a gunshot victim. Our officers got in a high speed chase from that scene. We recovered an AR 15 from that scene and 21 shell cases. Uh, we have responded to seven fight calls. Some of those calls we've had to intervene on one occasion. Our officers had to deploy pepper spray. and arrest a few subjects, uh, to stop the fighting. They've been over capacity, uh, four times for open like a fire department has had to be called. Um, they were allowed to let people leave to get under capacity all those times. We learned over the course of those four and a half months at times they were charging a cover charge anywhere from 25 to $40 just to get entry into the restaurant. We received several calls of drugs, DUIs, loud noise. Several several other things of that nature. We did have one call of a fight that was not reported to the following day when we asked the subjects involved why no one called the police. They stated that the owner, Mr Finch, asked them not to. In addition to this 35 calls for service, we did 61 security checks during that time because of problems from the business. Now, obviously, that is like a police department's job to do security checks. However, that's an extreme amount. And we're doing that to prevent further issues. And I submit to you, there would have been more calls for service had we not been there. And like I said, that is our job. However, it takes police away from other areas in the city. for for us to do that much enforcement in one place. At the End of July. Um The Aaliyah Aaliyah and the ABC board received a complaint from a citizen. They also received a complaint from us about the business, and they did two underage alcohol buys at that business. Two underage subjects were able to purchase alcohol without providing, uh, an I. D. Under that same same type of situation in the in the shooting incident I mentioned earlier, we also in that vehicle that we arrested some people in a pursuit. There was a 19 year old who also was arrested for minor in consumption. So that was another minor who had been drinking there. And then on August 2nd. Of this year, our officers responded to another fight call. And within that same night, we responded a few hours later after two a.m. And they were still serving alcohol in the business after two a.m. And they were cited for that. I submit to you that this business license needs to be revoked based on those stated facts. While we cafe is clearly violating city ordinance ordinances, criminal laws of the state. Um They're violating building Fires and fire safety laws. And importantly, they've been given numerous chances to correct this. This has happened over several months. We've responded numerous times. They know the issues that exist. And I think allowing this to continue is a nuisance to the city's residents and other businesses. And it's clearly a public safety issue.

You will be seated. Thank you. Thank you. The business owner can come forward if you choose to do so.

Good evening. Um, on behalf of why would you state your name for my name? Jurassic defense. I'm sorry. Um, I do want to take accountability for the things that happened there. Um, I do want to state for the record for a couple of things. The police department told us to call on several times when we needed help. A lot of those calls were from us trying to report stuff that people were doing that we know we need to clean up. Like the DUI call, we called about that person being a DUI call. Again, some of that stuff, we couldn't help. I mean, we've got security. We call police. We've done things that we need to try to do. As a first-time business owner, We know we made mistakes. We admit to those mistakes. We just ask for opportunity to correct them. Because not only does that affect me as a business owner, I have employees that depend on this job. And we just want to be given an opportunity to fix the stuff that we need to fix.

There's no other. I declare this public hearing due process hearing closed. Agenda related comments, Mr. Jones.

All right. If you'd like to speak to the mayor of the council about anything on tonight's agenda, please come to the podium to my left. If you have not and you do want to speak, please sign in the sign-in sheet with your contact information. If you do tonight's agenda right now, please state your name and your address before you speak and keep it to three minutes or less. Thanks.

Having none, we'll move on. The adoption of the consent agenda. Does any council member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda and address it as part of our regular agenda? Having none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Got it. Any discussion?

Discussion, Mr. President. On our consent agenda, I just want to confirm one of the items for the next hearing for the date for that. You want to do what now?

The date is for September 1st.

It's for September 1st?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

Any other discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

So moved. Aye. Swanton. Aye. Mr. B. Aye. Mr. Rell. Aye. Mr. Allen.

Aye.

All voted aye to approve the consent.

Resolution, Mr. Treese. Thank you and good evening, Mr. President. Resolution number one is to approve the revocation of a business license at 3040 Caps Way, which you just heard.

Is there a motion for approval? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

Discussion. I ask that we table this resolution because of the different verbiage that's on the said resolution compared to the one that the A business owner had gotten a chance to have received. I think that we should set it for our next meeting so that the business owner will get a chance to get the same resolution that we have now.

Question, Mr. President.

We'll take it. We can wait on a second or the motion would die.

She made a motion to table. Motion's on the floor.

So I need a second or?

You can get a second and discuss it.

Some have a second. Okay. And there's no discussion on the table. He said we can discuss it. No discussion on the table. No discussion on the table. Right. So you can vote it up or down. Yeah. Call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Aye. Swatley? Nay. Mr. Biggs? Nay. Mr. Raut? Nay. Mr. Reynolds? Aye. Three nays, two ayes. The motion to table fails, so the motion that's on the floor is to approve.

Okay, so any discussion for the motion that's on the floor?

Yes. On the ordinance, the resolution that has been presented to us versus the one, could you, Mr. Treece, explain or may I ask that we explain what the difference is in the resolutions that we have versus what is received? Sure, absolutely.

The resolution that was originally given to you in your packets, the title is to revoke the business license. And throughout the body of that resolution, it mentions not only revoking a business license, but also revoking the alcohol license, which I presume is just a mistake or a holdover from a previous revocation hearing, right? So actually the resolution that is corrected omitted all references to revoking an alcohol license because the city seeks to revoke the business license which would in effect accomplish the same goal so in fact the resolution that is the corrected version is a lesser evil if you will to the business owner than the one that contains any references to alcohol by mistake so it was basically a it's called a typographical error but um there were differences so thank you you know

Um, so question with this, um, is so if we table this until the next meeting, then we won't have a public hearing. We'll just have the discussion. The table has been voted down. I understand that Mr. President, but I voted to vote it down so that we could have discussion on this because I had questions. So someone can bring up a table again and I would support it if it happened. However, my question is if. if this were to be tabled, right, then the next city council meeting, we've already had our public hearing. So would it just be for the vote and for that discussion?

That's correct. You have 30 days to approve or deny the revocation.

Okay. So my question is, is the changing of the language, would that instigate another public hearing?

No. No, in fact, the decision that you make is based upon what the ordinance says. And the original revocation ordinance is all about revoking a business license. It had nothing to do with alcohol. So and you actually have other options under the ordinance itself. So not a problem.

So my second question is, with that understanding and it wouldn't have another public hearing, could we vote on this with the amendment of taking off the alcohol license? Yes. and we can do it tonight without Taylor.

Yes. Absolutely.

Someone needs to make a motion to amend as presented. Second vote to add the or correct the resolution as it's been presented by Mr. Treece and then approve it as amended.

I would make the motion for the amendment as city attorney Mr. Treece.

Is that motion? to accept the amended resolution. Allow me an opportunity to ask for it, if you will, please.

Okay.

Thank you. Is that second?

Second.

Any more discussion?

Yes, Mr. President. Let me ask, can I ask one question? If we would have tabled this motion, if we would have tabled it, it would have extended the time that this business would be in business, is that correct? Yes, sir. Is it, is it, can I ask, can I ask, is it, I don't want to say the wrong word. Can I ask, would you allow me to ask Major Hester a question? Mr. President.

What's your question?

Well, I'd like to address Major Hester. Is it Major Hester?

Allow me an opportunity to call him up.

Just tell me what your question is. Point of order. So we have a motion and a second for an amendment. So we need to do something with that first before we do anything. Because you did second in it, correct?

Direct your attention.

Mr. President, I'd like to know if Major Hester, if he thinks that this business, staying in business, is a danger to our public. That's what I'd like to know. And so the answer to that question would then tell me whether we need to extend and whether we made the right decision on the tabling this issue. I'm not for tabling it. I wasn't for tabling it because Obviously, their opinion, our trusted officers, is that this is a danger to our society. So I'm against letting it go any more time.

That was the question. Mayor? Mr. Rauch's point of order is correct in that we need to make a decision on the motion to amend the resolution as presented at this time.

But with a discussion.

Well, no. Just like when you table it, you have a second motion on the floor. I don't believe the discussion is warranted. Does that make sense?

No. Now, that was not a discussion to table it. You don't have a discussion when the motion is on the floor to table it. That's not a discussion.

But the motion to amend as presented is a secondary motion to the motion to approve.

Which means you have a chance to discuss.

Right. So it's a secondary motion which does not require discussion.

In point of order.

So the discussion after the amendment on the second, Mr. President, even even at a point of order, you allow me an opportunity to recognize you. OK.

I understand. I'm trying to I'm trying to make this clarification. So even on that amendment, we can have discussion, but we can only discuss the amendment. You can only discuss.

That's what I'm saying. That's what's on the floor.

The amended Russia. Mr. Baines is not discussing the amendment.

point of all well taken. Thank you, Mr. President.

So if there's any discussion about the amended.

Amended potion or the amended resolution. Having none, call the roll.

Ms. Holmes. Aye. Ms. Watley. Aye. Mr. Beams.

Aye.

Mr. Routt. Aye. Mr. Allen.

Aye.

All vote an aye to amend the resolution as presented. Now we're up to approve as amended.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the amended resolution. So moved. Second. Any discussion?

Now discussion. Now you can do the, if he wants to ask and whatnot. Right.

Mr. President, would you allow me to ask Mr. Hester? Am I saying it right, Major Hester? Yes, sir. Okay. I didn't want to hurt your feelings by saying the wrong term there. Is it your opinion that the business staying in business any many days past this is a danger to the society?

Yes, sir.

And our officers.

Thank you.

I, Mr. President, I also have a question for Major Hester. Major Hester, during all these calls of service, you've had contact with the owner, correct? Not me personally, but like police department officers. Yes, sir. In your professional opinion, do you see any way that this can be rectified in any situations? It's different from what we've had before. So do you see any way that this could be rectified?

Not under these circumstances. I believe if it was going to be rectified, it would have been done months ago.

Understanding that safety is the most important thing that you all provide for a city and you all do a great job at that. and understanding that preventing any loss of life is your number one responsibility. With an operation like this in our city and continuing to go on, do you see it progressing to the point to where it'd be risking the safety of not only the people at that restaurant and at that location, but also in the location around it, meaning we have other restaurants, theaters, across the street. Do you see that also being a risk of safety? Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Another discussion, if you will. If by chance we do revoke the license, do we set a time limit for how long that would be revoked or?

Yeah, it's 36 months is what the.

That's what the resolution requested.

That's what the resolution said, 36 months.

36 months?

Yes, sir.

Any other discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

So, aye. Swope? Aye. Devane?

Aye.

Aye. Mr. Allen?

Aye.

All voted aye to approve the resolution as amended, revoking the business license at 3040 Capsule.

Appointments, Mr. Treese.

First ordinance tonight is to rename Joanne Drive to Faith Way. This is for second reading.

Is there a motion for approval? So moved.

Second.

Any discussion? Having none, call the roll. Mr. Jones?

Aye. Ms. Whatley? Aye. Mr. Biebs?

Aye.

Mr. Rapp? Aye. Mr. Allen?

Aye.

All voted aye.

Ordinance number two, you've seen before. is to amend section 16-188 of the city code of ordinances having to do with school zone speed limit times for Fox Run School and for that school name change that our clerk mentioned earlier. This is for first reading and I do believe the clerk asked to suspend the rules and see if you guys would adopt it immediately.

I would like to ask a member of the council to introduce his ordinance for first reading. My pleasure. Thank you very much. And now I'd like to ask a council member to to motion to suspend the rules on Ordinance Number Two.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Ms. Holmes. Aye. Ms. Walton. Aye. Mr. Baines.

Aye.

Mr. Raut. Aye. Mr. Allen.

Aye.

All voted aye to suspend the rules.

Now entertain a motion to for approval of Ordinance Number Two.

So moved.

Second. Any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Ms. Holmes. Aye. Ms. Whatley. Aye. Mr. Beans.

Aye.

Mr. Rowe. Aye. Mr. Allen.

Aye. All voted aye. Thank you very much, Mr. Treese. Second, roster of public comments, Mr. Jones.

Okay, if you'd like to speak to the mayor and council about anything else, please come to the podium to my left. Like before, please sign in the sign-in sheet with your contact info. If you speak, state your name and your address. Please keep it a three minutes or less.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Maddie Clark. I live at 706 Orchard Avenue, Opelika. First of all, I want to thank y'all. I don't know who got the buildings tore down on Martin Luther King, but whoever it is, I thank God for it. So those houses are gone. So I thank God for that. Whoever had it done, whether y'all had it done or whoever, I'm thankful for it. Now I got another complaint. On First Avenue, that grass is so high and it's still growing that you cannot see that little nasty lake over there. And nobody has cut that grass. So I'm wondering what we're gonna do about that. And my neighbors on West Street still emptying trash over there and the trash people, which they're rightly not supposed to pick it up because the signs say, you know, don't put the trash there. But I know who's doing it, but I need to know how I can find out getting it going down because it keeps piling because they're putting stuff over there. So how do I stop them and how do I get them to pick it up one last time? Also on Randolph, somebody cut down some big trees and those stumps are too big to sit and not going to pick them up. So if somebody could find out who cut down those big trees and had those big stumps move from over there, I would appreciate it. Thank you very much for your time.

My name is Tiffany Hillier. I live at 1305 Morris Avenue, Opelika. I think you all know why I'm here. I will say, first and foremost, I recently received an email that the developer and engineer for Blackberry Reserve has redesigned their plans for the phase that includes the cemetery and they will include, that will include a 30 to 40 foot buffer along the north side boundary of the cemetery which was a lot of where we were concentrated on um the potential for encroachment i would like to say thank you to i know blake rice with bsi and quality homes for doing what we feel is the right thing to do anyways however that does not protect the other cemeteries that we have in our area that have the potential to be developed around um so i still want to ask that There being ordinance, especially while y'all are doing the whole read. What is it, 2040 thing that while you're doing the 2040 comprehensive plan to reorganize. To recognize cemeteries as protected cultural historical resources and add cemetery protection buffers to zoning ordinances. add buffer requirements to subdivision regulations. I believe the cleanest implementation would be a supplemental zoning regulation with corresponding language added to the subdivision regulations we already have. If we can make buffers for noise and for all the things that we do already make buffers for, we can do it for those who have gone and technically They own that plot. So we can at least do it for them. I do have for y'all a copy of an example since I never got to receive the proposed ordinance that Mayor Smith requested be done because, well, I don't know, but I have an example and it does say where Y'all as a municipality have a right. It's not taking somebody's land. Y'all do have a right to implement buffers in development.

Can I hand this back to you?

I don't mind. I think there's some. Thank you all.

I was waiting on my three minutes.

All right.

How are you doing, Mr. Jones?

I'm good. How are you?

I'm just fine. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, City Council and other elected officials, all polite. I'm Billy U. Allen. I live at 930 Redan Trace, Stone Mountain, Georgia. I've been in a four-year office several times. I'm going to continue to be before you are even more now. I got three things I want to talk about. The first thing is Mrs Clark. I commend her with her perseverance. A dedication. Her wherewithal. To make Opelika a clean city. A city without blight. A city without overgrown properties. A city without buildings like the Southern Bay Building at Randolph Street and Fruitland Avenue. I commend her. Continue your work, ma'am. Continue to do what you're doing. Number two, I commend Miss Tiffany Hilliard. She cares about our history. She cares about cemeteries. She cares about people that came before us. And I think we should do that also. The hard cemetery, it needs to be restored to what it should be as a historical monument. And we could do that. The city of LaGrange has done it. I understand the city to own that property, but they've done it. Go up there and look at it. Go look at it. You'll be proud of what they've done. We need to take care of those fallen Confederate soldiers, those ex-slaves, their descendants. Some of them are probably your relatives. We need to take care of them. And the homeowners. I'm sure they're wondering, what are you going to do? Potential homeowners. They're not homeowners yet. How is it going to affect their house values? We got to do something about that. And lastly, I got 33 seconds. The last thing, the third thing, if God's willing, if I keep my health and strength and the creek doesn't rise, I'm moving back to Obelika. But I'm going to do it. All right. And we're going to make we're going to make the city what it can be. It could be a great city, but we cannot forget the people that that were here before we start growing. We got to make sure that they're taken care of. Thank you very much.

Let me close up.

And others.

Good evening. My name is Alexandria Torbert. My address is 725 East Town Parkway, Opelika, Alabama. I'm hoping I'm using this time correctly, but I just felt the need to come up here to say thank you to all of you. I've lived in Opelika for, I think, around 13 years now. Some of you have been on the city council, I think, since I moved here back in 2014, and some of you are new. I just wanted to show my appreciation. I know that what your job is, it's not easy. I know it's very stressful. And so I just want to express my gratitude, just to say thank you for everything you do for the city. I know that all the decisions you have to make behind the scenes are very complex, and they're very hard and very difficult. And I do truly believe that you guys have the city's best interests at heart. And so I know that this is technically a space to, I don't want to say complain, but professionally express our concerns for the city. I just want to use this time just to say thank you and thank you for keeping us in mind. I guess that's it. Just thank you.

Now, this is not character trait of the month commitment, an agreement, a pledge to do something in the future. With no other business at hand, I will now entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second. Call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Holmes. Aye. Whatley. Aye. Bing.

Aye.

Dorrell.

Aye. Sal. Aye.